The Vaetra Chronicles: Book 01 - Vaetra Unveiled (17 page)

I felt a little foolish about running from what I had seen the night before, but then I reached up and touched one of the still-tender scratches on my face and frowned at the memory of my wild dash through the forest. I wasn't easily spooked. The wolf howls had touched on something primitive within me, and remembering them set my nerves on edge again.

As we neared the clearing, Alain exclaimed, "Tam! Stop! It's me, Alain."

We spread out into the clearing to find Tam, still without clothing. He crouched at the other side of the clearing and edged toward the trail behind him. His eyes were wild as they shifted back and forth among us.

Any doubts about what I'd seen the night before evaporated. Tam's face and ears were still distorted and his entire body was covered with light brown fur. His toes and fingers were stunted and clawed. His brown eyes were wide and his lips were pulled back from his teeth in a snarl that revealed long white canines in both his upper and lower jaw.

Alain dismounted, his face flushed and his eyes wide. Tam took a step back, and
growled
like a dog. There was no other word for the sound he made.

"Tam, what's happened to you? It's me, Alain," he repeated. Tam lifted his head and sniffed the air. He didn't growl again, but he didn't relax his stance either.

I decided that being on foot might make us seem less threatening. Apparently, so did Jergen. We both dismounted and stepped around in front of our horses. I stayed back a couple of steps to let Jergen and Alain handle the conversation with Tam, such as it was.

Jergen looked at the thing Tam had become and then over at Alain. "Are you telling me that this creature is my son? How is that possible?"

When Jergen spoke, Tam took another step back and growled again.

Alain held up his hand. "Wait, Tam! Don't run. We're here to help you." Tam stared at Alain and made a whining sound. Alain's hand dropped back to his side, and he looked over at Jergen. "Yes, it's Tam. Something has happened to him," he confirmed.

I slowly reached into my pocket so as not to disturb Tam, and removed the bottle I'd found in his things. I held up the bottle between my thumb and forefinger. "Does it have anything to do with this?" I asked Alain.

Alain glanced over at me and then looked sharply back when he saw the bottle. His eyes went wide. "Where did you find that?" he asked.

"It was hidden in Tam's boot."

"What is that?" Jergen demanded.

For a moment, Alain looked like he might try to run. He swallowed hard and he glanced at his horse.

"Tell us!" Jergen shouted. Tam growled again and crouched lower.

Alain looked at Tam, and then back at the bottle, which I was still holding up. His shoulders fell and he looked at the ground. "It's a potion. A lycanthropy potion," he said in defeated tone.

"What does it do?" I asked, although I had a pretty good idea already.

Alain looked over at me and waved a hand toward Tam. "It lets us explore the forest at night in wolf form."

Jergen took a step toward Alain. "Wolf form? What are you talking about? Are you telling me that this is what you boys have been up to out here? Fooling with dangerous magic and turning yourselves into wolves?"

Alain cringed at Jergen's tone. "It was harmless. We only did it once in a while, and only for an hour or two at a time. I don't understand why Tam hasn't fully changed back. Nothing like this has ever happened before," he said defensively.

Then Alain took a closer look at the bottle in my hand and stepped over to take it from me. He turned the bottle around, and when he saw the label, he gasped.

Jergen narrowed his eyes at Alain and stepped closer to him. "What is it?" he demanded.

Tam snarled and lurched forward a step when Jergen moved closer to Alain. Jergen noticed the movement and took a hesitant step back.

Alain looked back and forth between Jergen and me. "This is Eclipse. This is one of the strongest lycanthropy potions made."

"So what?" I asked.

Alain shook his head and held up the bottle. "We don't
use
stuff this strong. It would change you for hours. Maybe the entire night. We stick to the weakest potions because they are cheaper and only last a short time. This would cost...I don't know...a fortune." He waggled the bottle in emphasis and felt the remaining liquid slosh around. His face went white and he quietly murmured, "Oh, no," as he stared at the bottle in disbelief. He then looked sharply over at Tam. "Tam, what have you done?"

Jergen stepped forward at that moment and snatched the bottle from Alain's hand and yelled. "A fortune? Tam's wasting my money on magic potions so he can run around the forest in a wolf suit?"

When Jergen grabbed the bottle, Alain held out his hand in desperation and said "Wait!"

But Jergen ignored him and punctuated his tirade by throwing the bottle at the fire ring where it shattered upon the rocks. The last bit of potion dripped slowly down the side of the stone to be absorbed by the ground.

Alain stared at the fire ring in dismay.

Jergen's violent action provoked Tam into motion. He roared and launched himself at his father. Jergen, taken completely by surprise, barely had time to bring up his left arm in defense before Tam crashed into him and knocked him to the ground. Tam grunted in pain when he landed fully on his father. He rolled off with a wheezing sigh and lay there on his back, his father's dagger protruding from his chest.

Alain cried out and threw himself to the ground next to Tam. "Oh, Tam. I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell us what you were going to do? I could have warned you." He lowered his head to his friend's face and began to sob.

Jergen had the wind knocked out of him when he crashed to the ground. As soon as he caught his breath, he sat up on an elbow and looked down at the creature lying next to him. As we watched, Tam's features melted back into the normal form of a sixteen-year-old boy and his breathing stopped.

"What have I done?" Jergen whispered. He reached over and pulled the dagger from Tam's body and placed his hand over the wound. He laid his head on Tam's chest and said, "Don't worry son, you'll be alright." But listening for a heartbeat was futile. Jergen raised his head from Tam's chest slowly with tears in his eyes.

Jergen got to his feet and picked up the dagger. He stared at the weapon, his son's lifeblood dripping from the edge of the blade. "It...he attacked me. I drew without thinking. I didn't even try to use it; he just fell on the blade," he muttered to himself.

Alain looked up from Tam's body and glared at Jergen. "You shouldn't have destroyed the bottle!" he shouted. "It was our only way to bring him back to himself."

Jergen blinked a couple of times and looked down at Alain. "What are you talking about? This is your doing! You and your magic potions!"

Alain glanced at the dagger in Jergen's hand and swallowed. He looked back up at Jergen and explained. "You're supposed to drink the entire potion, but Tam didn't. He must have thought he'd save some for another time, but I'm sure I told him you can't do that. That's why the potion didn't work right. Our only hope to get him back was to have him drink the rest of it."

Jergen's face went ashen, and he turned his face away from the boys. I thought he might be sick for a moment, but he gathered himself and turned to point the bloody dagger at me. "Not a word of this to anyone," he hissed. Then he pointed the dagger at Alain. "You either."

His eyes darted around and he chewed his lip as he thought for a moment. "I don't think anyone gains anything by knowing the truth about what happened here," he finally said, looking at Alain. The boy looked unhappy about what Jergen was suggesting, but nodded his head and looked back down at Tam. Jergen continued, "Tam got lost and fell. He had the misfortune to fall on a sharp branch. When we found him, he was already dead." Jergen nodded to himself, satisfied with the story he'd concocted.

Alain sighed. "You're right. I'll help."

A real investigation might reveal the truth, but the reality was that there would be no investigation. If someone like Jergen made a statement about how his only son had died, no one would question it; at least not to his face, and not to any kind of authority.

"Can I do anything to help?" I asked Jergen.

Jergen looked over at me as if he'd forgotten I was there. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small purse, and threw it at me. "You can leave! That's the rest of your payment, as agreed. It should be enough for you to keep your mouth shut, and if it isn't, I know about your past
Captain
Forester, and I can make sure you never find work in this area again."

I caught the thrown purse just before it hit my chest, and I stood gaping at him as he issued his threat. My shock quickly turned to anger and I nearly threw the purse back at him. But I had earned the fee and venting my feelings wasn't worth the loss of three gold crowns.

Instead, I tucked the purse away and said evenly, "There's no need for threats, Mister Overland."

"Just get out of my sight. Now!" he roared, taking a step toward me, bloody dagger still in hand.

My hand went to my own dagger automatically, and I might have drawn it, except that I saw tears streaming down Jergen Overland's cheeks into his beard as he shouted. I knew then that his anger wasn't really directed at me, but that I made a convenient target.

Alain looked up from where he kneeled next to Tam and added his own plea. "Please, Mister Forester. Just go, and let us take care of Tam now."

I nodded to both of them and walked over to Patches. Patches was jittery from Tam's attack on Jergen and the subsequent shouting, and he was milling at the edge of the clearing with the other horses. I patted his neck and spoke soothingly to calm him before I stepped up into the saddle. As we left the clearing, I looked back over my shoulder to see that Jergen Overland was kneeling next to his son, holding the boy's head and shoulders in his lap and weeping silently.

I didn't like the idea of obscuring the truth of what had happened, but I couldn't argue with Jergen's conclusion. The truth would only cause trouble. There would be enough anger and grief over Tam's death as it was. Admitting sorcery was involved would only complicate matters for the Overlands and for Alain. And I knew that Jergen had not intentionally murdered his son. It was all a horribly tragic accident.

But I had reasons of my own to hold back the truth, and nausea churned in my stomach as I considered them. I had heard of lycanthropy potions. I knew almost nothing about them or how they worked because I had carefully avoided anything to do with sorcery my whole life. If I had known anything about potions, I might have realized the implications of the half-full bottle I'd held in my hand only moments before. I might have been able to save Tam the first time I found him. Or at least I could have prevented the disaster I had just witnessed.

In a way, my ignorance of sorcery may very well have cost young Tam his life.

M
y journey back to Northshore went by in a blur. As I rode, my mind argued in circles, trying to figure out what went wrong and second-guessing what I could have done to stop it. Finally, I would chastise myself for fretting over something that was over and done, and then the same useless mental cycle would start over.

The clink of five gold crowns in my purse would normally be cheering, but today it was no consolation. I had satisfied the Overland contract, but not in a satisfying way. I had found Tam, uncovered the mystery of why he hadn't come home, and reunited him with his family, in a manner of speaking. But just the same, Jergen's final payment felt like a payoff to keep me quiet.

The sun was high in the sky overhead when the walls of Northshore came into view. I was relieved to be nearly home, but I wasn't sure what I was going to tell Borlan when I reported to him.

I waited outside the east gate for a moment while a large wagon rumbled through and rolled away toward Delta, and then I urged Patches through the opening into town. The streets were busy with townspeople. Many of the folks moved with a half-smile on their face, enjoying the unusually nice spring afternoon. I was like a dark cloud crossing their blue sky.

I dismounted in front of the Snow Creek Inn's stable. I wondered how Meldon was coming along with the repairs as I walked Patches through the open stable door. No sounds of hammering or sawing greeted me, so perhaps he'd made better time than expected.

My eyes adjusted quickly to the shadowed barn, and I was surprised to see Meldon sitting next to Dela on a bench. A mostly eaten meat pie rested on a small cloth that was spread between them. Meldon looked up quickly when I came in. "Hi Jaylan," he said, much louder than necessary. I could swear a blush rose to his cheeks.

Dela turned and saw me, and then leaped up from where she was sitting. "Jaylan! You're home!" She ran over to me with a big smile on her face and gave me a hug. I hugged her back with my one free arm. "I was just bringing Meldon some lunch," she explained.

Meldon stood and wiped some crumbs from his shirt and then sidled over to take Patches reins from my hand. "Here, let me take him for you." He led Patches over to the stall I had repaired before I left and started to unsaddle the horse.